WEBVTT - Ted Sarandos 0:00:00.760 --> 0:00:09.240 Hi everybody, it's Bruce. Thanks for joining us for another 0:00:09.280 --> 0:00:12.720 episode of Table for Two. Today we're back at one 0:00:12.720 --> 0:00:17.160 of my favorite places, the Tower Bar, for another amazing lunch. 0:00:17.440 --> 0:00:19.720 I mean I usually do the chop with chicken. Yeah, 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:21.280 that's my I'll see. 0:00:21.400 --> 0:00:23.040 I'm going to do the exact same things. It's one 0:00:23.040 --> 0:00:23.759 of my favorite things. 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:28.160 This time around, we're speaking with someone who has helped 0:00:28.240 --> 0:00:32.880 changed the landscape of television as the co CEO of Netflix, 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:35.800 but today we're going to be focusing in on something 0:00:36.000 --> 0:00:37.520 very important to him. 0:00:37.560 --> 0:00:38.000 Family. 0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:41.840 Our guest recently wrote a touching forward to the paperback 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:45.440 version of his wife, Nicole Levant's book, Think You'll Be Happy. 0:00:45.960 --> 0:00:49.040 Oh actually I can take smigula. Normally it takes sparkling. 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:52.320 But you know you're not going to say you. 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:55.360 Take sparkling please. 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:00.600 That's right. 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:03.480 We're having lunch with Ted Surrandos. 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:05.680 We're going to talk about. 0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:08.840 His in laws, his own parents, and how his childhood 0:01:08.840 --> 0:01:12.880 help shape who he is today. So sit back, grab 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:16.520 a glass of rose, and I hope you enjoy our conversation. 0:01:18.160 --> 0:01:21.559 I'm rus Bozzie and this is my podcast Table for two. 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:34.560 So if you've pulled up a chair today, it's your 0:01:34.600 --> 0:01:39.440 lucky day. We're having lunch with You've changed what TV is, 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:43.240 how we watch TV. You are a man of such. 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:46.040 Integrity and warmth, and. 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:47.760 I've had such the pleasure of getting to know you 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:48.680 and your wife Nicole. 0:01:49.120 --> 0:01:51.400 We are having lunch today with Ted Sorrandos. 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:52.720 Thank you for having me. 0:01:52.760 --> 0:01:54.720 Oh my god, thank you for joining me. 0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:57.360 And you know we're and today is an interesting conversation 0:01:57.440 --> 0:02:01.160 that we're going to have because Nicole, your wife, Nicole 0:02:01.760 --> 0:02:04.880 was on the show and she wrote her memoir I 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:07.480 think You'll be happy moving through grief with great grace 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:08.520 and gratitude. 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:13.320 And the second edition has just been dropped. 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:16.280 Right, yeah, yeah, and you wrote the prologue to it, 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:17.160 and I did. 0:02:17.200 --> 0:02:18.200 I've never done that before. 0:02:18.280 --> 0:02:21.440 Yeah, So tell me and I want to talk about 0:02:21.639 --> 0:02:23.079 your phrase I will meet you there. 0:02:23.360 --> 0:02:26.000 I think it's so beautiful. But Rick, how did that 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:26.560 come about? 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:30.520 To ask me to write the foot the road for 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:33.960 the for the book was so important for her because 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:36.320 and for both of us really, because it's how you 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:39.880 process grief, for how you process events in your life 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:42.839 is really up to you. Like you realize pretty quick 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:46.079 that you don't have much control over these things. That happened. 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:51.520 We did not anticipate, you know, months before the you know, 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:55.120 the terrible murder of Nicholl's mother or the you know, 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:57.320 the timely passing of my father, that either one of 0:02:57.320 --> 0:02:59.920 those things will be true, that we were planning his 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:02.240 eightieth birthday and we you know, just have Thanksgiving. 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:04.440 It's just it's a yeah, I mean, it's a contextualized 0:03:04.480 --> 0:03:07.200 to a listener. Within a week, Ted you lost your 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:10.400 father who was about to be eighty, and a home 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:14.200 break in Jacqueline and she was murdered, and like that's 0:03:14.600 --> 0:03:15.600 like life changes like. 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:19.000 This, just like that. And again neither neither we could 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:21.680 have been planned on or thought about or such a 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:24.640 terrible turn of events. And I think the thing that 0:03:24.880 --> 0:03:27.280 you know Nicole as well, But I think what about 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:29.520 the thing about her is that she really is this 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:34.000 kind of EmPATH, and she really is so thinking of 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:36.920 other people so unconsciously. I don't think she wrote the 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:39.720 book thinking she wrote the book for herself, but of 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:42.040 course it's a book that helps millions of people, Yes, 0:03:42.280 --> 0:03:45.440 and it's a she knew going into it. What can 0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:48.000 I do? How can I turn this terrible thing in 0:03:48.080 --> 0:03:50.360 my life into something positive for other people, and that 0:03:50.440 --> 0:03:52.040 was the moment because she had been struggling to write 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:54.400 a book for a long time, for a few years, 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:57.760 more of a biography, more was about her, And it 0:03:57.800 --> 0:03:59.880 totally makes sense that what she needed to get over 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:01.640 is not making it about her as soon as it 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:04.840 was about somebody else. It was about her mom's that 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:06.560 it flowed out of her just came out of her. 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:10.480 So the process of going with her to some of 0:04:10.520 --> 0:04:13.560 the bookstops and hearing seeing the emotional reaction from people 0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:16.440 who've read the book, it's very very moving and very 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:20.520 very touching. And it was me watching her journey from 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:23.680 the side and reading around and shearing heron for sure. 0:04:24.000 --> 0:04:25.600 And then she's reminded me one night, she said, you 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:29.440 know you're you're inextractable from this story. Is this was 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:31.720 your you know Jackie as she was a mother. I 0:04:31.760 --> 0:04:33.880 say she was a mother, my mother in law. But 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:37.000 she was everything you'd hope your mother would be, you know, meaning, 0:04:37.960 --> 0:04:43.080 super supportive, incredibly wise, every loving, everything you really want 0:04:43.160 --> 0:04:44.800 your mom to be. My you know, Jackie got to 0:04:44.800 --> 0:04:47.800 be from my mother passed away several years before, and 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:49.560 so she was great and not just for me, but 0:04:49.600 --> 0:04:53.919 for my kids as a grandmother, unbelievably supportive and engaged 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:57.640 and wise, and people look up to her, including my kids, 0:04:58.080 --> 0:04:59.120 and so universal. 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:00.640 When you ever her name is mentioned, it. 0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:03.720 No, she was earned. I mean she's she did more 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:06.479 on this planet in a very short time. I know, 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:08.960 you know, you die in your eighties, you figure, oh 0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:11.120 you had a good run. But she jammed a lot 0:05:11.120 --> 0:05:13.800 of life into that into there. And I look at 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:16.880 that that she's so inspiring in that way. So and 0:05:16.920 --> 0:05:18.800 when Nicole said, you know, the book, the paperback was 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:21.159 coming out and it was an opportunity for the book 0:05:21.200 --> 0:05:23.480 to reach an even wider audience, and she asked me 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:25.200 if I would take a run it right in the phone. 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:27.160 It was very very moved that she asked her. 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:30.040 It's really beautiful. Your words are really beautiful. 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:33.120 And the picture you paint of not only sort of 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:36.120 the trauma of that night and receiving that phone call, 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:39.720 but also sort of getting the family to the hospital, 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:45.320 and then the emergence of watching your wife take on 0:05:45.440 --> 0:05:50.000 this moment where becoming the matriarch in this sort of, 0:05:51.440 --> 0:05:54.120 as you said, way that her mother could never have 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:58.280 imagined but had prepared her that way, and then being 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:03.279 with Clarence as he departed the past. Where did that 0:06:03.360 --> 0:06:04.120 come from from? 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:07.880 With? Well, I mean for Jackie preparing Nicole for anything, 0:06:08.760 --> 0:06:12.600 the how beautiful it is, it included preparing her for 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:15.760 the very worst thing you can imagine, not intentionally, but 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:19.279 but maybe intentionally, you know. And I think that her 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:22.400 her the way that Nicole just Rice rose to the occasion. 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:25.000 There was no time, there's no time for anything but 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:29.000 for me to step up, right, and she instinctively knew that. 0:06:29.200 --> 0:06:31.279 You know, we're in we're in the we're in the 0:06:31.279 --> 0:06:35.120 emergency room. We're waiting for the word from the doctor. 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:36.920 So what happened? How was Jackie, which is going to 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:40.800 make it through this surgery after this shooting? And they 0:06:40.839 --> 0:06:42.400 did the thing that you see on TV where they 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:43.760 come and ask you to go to a little room, 0:06:43.880 --> 0:06:46.919 right and you know, so walking to the room, we knew, 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:48.960 you know, that was not going to be good. 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:49.240 Yea. 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:54.640 And Nicole's brother Alex was there. He was distraught, and 0:06:54.680 --> 0:06:58.119 her father was just overcome with griefs and it's almost 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:00.960 as if the entire room melted down and Nicole rose 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:03.479 up because she knew she had to and it was 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:05.920 just it's a beautiful thing to think back on that, 0:07:06.000 --> 0:07:08.880 you know, such a horrific night. Yeah, to actually watch 0:07:09.040 --> 0:07:12.400 this physical transformation of somebody, somebody you love as much 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:14.640 as I love to call and know that it wasn't 0:07:14.680 --> 0:07:18.680 like she didn't that in that moment she didn't need 0:07:18.720 --> 0:07:21.400 my help. I knew she would, I knew she would 0:07:21.400 --> 0:07:22.920 down the road, and in that moment she did not. 0:07:23.360 --> 0:07:27.560 It was very instinctive and very automatic for her. It 0:07:27.640 --> 0:07:29.480 was just a reflex. 0:07:29.160 --> 0:07:31.240 I really do love I will meet you there. We're 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:33.120 going to revisit that. But so, like, let's just talk 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:35.240 about the actual reel, Like where did. 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:39.760 You meet n I met Nicoll during the Obama run 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:43.520 for the first one. I was going to a We 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:45.960 went to a big fundraiser here in La. It was 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:47.760 the first one he did after he got the nomination. 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:52.760 And I was the last person to arrive and she 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:58.000 was pissed late. Yeah. So her very first words to 0:07:58.040 --> 0:08:01.120 me were, you are late. Words I have heard many times. 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:02.680 Wait, this was the first time you met, the first 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:05.720 time I laid eyes on, first time, you are late. 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:09.400 And she she's like she again, she's immediately she was 0:08:09.440 --> 0:08:11.880 in charge, she was running this event. You take your 0:08:11.880 --> 0:08:14.880 pictures and you get to your table. And I remember 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:16.920 just having my breath taken away a little bit when 0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:20.200 I walked in the room at her energy and I 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:22.760 and her beauty of course, but also energy. And I'm 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:26.080 looking at her and I found myself watching her work 0:08:26.080 --> 0:08:28.560 the room like working around. You go here, you go there. 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:31.560 She was very, very very much in charge of that room. 0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:34.880 And a friend of ours, Laurence Bender, who actually introduced 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:38.840 me to Nicole, was hosting a table and that we 0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:41.400 were sitting at, and she came over to tell Lawrence 0:08:41.720 --> 0:08:43.880 you are not the Senator is not coming to your table. 0:08:43.960 --> 0:08:45.160 If you want to meet the Senator, you go to 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:48.800 that table, and she stormed away again. And so I 0:08:48.840 --> 0:08:50.200 said to Lawrence to go who is this. 0:08:51.720 --> 0:08:52.520 She's a frire story. 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:55.000 And he said, how do you not know Nicole Avon? 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:57.679 She's famous in this town. I have no I've never 0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:00.239 met her. He goes, oh, you'll meet her tonight. She's great. 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:04.040 And so after the event was over, Laurence hosted a 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:08.120 table at Ago, the former Ago, and said, you guy, 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:10.160 should you should come? So I said great. We go 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:12.920 to the dinner and Nicole comes walking in the room 0:09:13.040 --> 0:09:15.440 and Laurence said, switch seats. You should talk to Nicoll. 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:17.480 She's she's great. You should get to know Nicole. And 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:19.440 she sat down next to me and we talked for 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:22.000 three hours with a table of ten, but it was 0:09:22.080 --> 0:09:24.200 just the table for two, isn't that we talked for 0:09:24.240 --> 0:09:24.959 three hours straight. 0:09:25.080 --> 0:09:28.679 That's when that takes over and like the white light, 0:09:28.720 --> 0:09:30.760 everything goes away, but the two of you, like all 0:09:30.760 --> 0:09:33.320 the noise in the restaurant was just and from that 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:35.280 point on, So then you asked her out on a date. 0:09:35.320 --> 0:09:36.960 Well, we talked that night though by the way, we 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:39.120 talked about everything you're never supposed to talk about on 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:43.600 a date, Like we talked about religion, politics, history, everything 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:45.880 we're not supposed to talk about it, right, And it 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:48.160 really was an unbelievable experience that by the time we 0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:50.800 I did ask her for a date if you afterwards, 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:53.720 and she she she had she tells the story, but 0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:57.080 that she had been She said kind of like unconscious. 0:09:57.080 --> 0:09:58.920 I hope I see him again. And I wrote a 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:00.439 note to her at the bottom, but I said, I 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:02.680 hope I see you again. So and uh. 0:10:02.920 --> 0:10:05.319 So Nicole has that way about her. She yes, she's 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:07.640 a manifestor, Yeah, she's a manifestor she really is. 0:10:07.720 --> 0:10:09.640 But she so that then that we met for a 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:13.760 drink that turned into dinner and after a pretty short time, right, 0:10:14.040 --> 0:10:16.600 we not only were together after very sure you were married? Right? 0:10:16.880 --> 0:10:17.080 Well? 0:10:17.280 --> 0:10:19.880 I mean, if I truly believe, like I shouldn't point 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:22.160 in your life too, when you've lived enough life and 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:24.199 you know, you just know, you know, you. 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:27.079 Know, and it's just like, yeah, let's we we gain 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:28.559 our life together. Yeah, we were. 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:32.000 I think we're about nine months in and I said 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:34.120 to her, I don't know what else I'm going to 0:10:34.160 --> 0:10:35.720 know in six months that I don't already know, right, 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:46.840 And I was very sure about it, right. Yeah. 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:49.160 My next question in reading this, when I was thinking 0:10:49.160 --> 0:10:51.160 about it, I was like, so, when was the first. 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:53.000 Time you said I will meet you there, like. 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:56.280 You know, in because there's two ways to be saying yeah, 0:10:56.360 --> 0:10:57.880 i'll meet you there, I'll meet you at. 0:10:57.800 --> 0:10:59.520 The tower, or i'll meet you there. 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:01.319 Yeah, I think it's kind of like that you'll be 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:03.160 happy in the way, but it was it was not 0:11:03.200 --> 0:11:04.120 a conscious. 0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:05.920 Decision, right, so that you'll be happy. 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:10.120 To also take that right away, think you'll be happy, 0:11:10.400 --> 0:11:12.640 but i'll meet you there. Is it actually just kind 0:11:12.640 --> 0:11:14.600 of very organically flowed and I sat down to write 0:11:14.600 --> 0:11:16.960 at the first draft, and it's a thing that stuck 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:18.920 out to me as kind of an like you said, 0:11:18.920 --> 0:11:21.880 it's a string of words, it means very little, or 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:24.240 it could be life changing, and for me it was. 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:27.920 And again, meeting somebody where they are physically or where 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:32.520 they are emotionally, and to recognition that in a life together, 0:11:33.400 --> 0:11:38.120 consequences dictate that things change and and you change, and 0:11:38.800 --> 0:11:40.240 you're not in the same state that you were in, 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:41.840 and you're not in the same space that you were 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:44.440 in sometimes and you have to meet that person where 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:45.920 they are and try to help them through it and 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:47.720 that they will do the same for you. 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:49.320 That's very important. 0:11:49.760 --> 0:11:54.480 And it's not always easy, as you know, to meet 0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:58.000 someone there, you know, as we evolve, as you have 0:11:58.040 --> 0:12:01.760 a shared life, a journey, which is really what you 0:12:01.840 --> 0:12:04.840 have with someone when you really choose to spend. Has 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:09.240 there been a time where to meet Nicole or meet 0:12:09.360 --> 0:12:11.959 or you know, having Hole meet you there wasn't so 0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:14.800 easy where it's like, Okay, I'm gonna get there, but 0:12:14.800 --> 0:12:15.520 I don't know how much. 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:17.439 Oh for sure, it's all I mean, I would say 0:12:17.480 --> 0:12:20.640 when the first time I consciously remember the meet you there. 0:12:20.679 --> 0:12:23.559 Being part of our life was right after we got married, 0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:25.720 she became the US ambassador to the rahamas sure and 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:28.840 physically moved to the Bahamas, and I could not physically 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:30.760 move with her at that time, so we were I 0:12:30.840 --> 0:12:33.280 was doing two weeks home and one week there for 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:35.200 the first couple of years of our marriage. Okay, so 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:37.400 our whole marriage was I'll meet you there, and then 0:12:37.400 --> 0:12:39.719 when I would meet there, I would you know, get 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:41.440 off the plane and get into a suit and be 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:44.559 you know, you had duty duties on top of that, 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:47.880 and then also I had to show up for her 0:12:47.880 --> 0:12:49.920 in a way that she was there by herself, you know, 0:12:50.000 --> 0:12:51.920 so to be able to make up for lost time 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:54.760 constantly and then still invest in time, invest our time 0:12:54.800 --> 0:12:57.520 in each other. We had little bites of getaway time 0:12:57.559 --> 0:13:00.640 together that were not part of duty. And then also 0:13:00.679 --> 0:13:03.000 we're you know, both that we have kids that were 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:06.640 also needed that attention. And then yeah, and so when 0:13:07.360 --> 0:13:10.320 I have a Sarah an TONI and Sarah and Nicole 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:14.120 came into our lives and at a really ruckous time 0:13:15.040 --> 0:13:15.959 going into early teens. 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:18.480 Oh so yeah, with me with Brian and Billy's it's 0:13:18.600 --> 0:13:19.480 not an easy time. 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:23.240 To begin a relationship with somebody because what you also 0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:24.920 realized that I'm sure the call felt this way and 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:27.959 you they have to love you like you love her 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:30.880 and she loves you, because without that it's not easy. 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:32.959 Yeah, and it's and it's bouncy. And I think about 0:13:32.960 --> 0:13:37.160 it the time together and Nicole's willingness to invest and 0:13:37.280 --> 0:13:40.560 lean into them and uh and you know sometimes swallow 0:13:40.640 --> 0:13:44.679 some pretty hard transactions, yes, and also like to step 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:47.000 into a role and she really did. I mean, I 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:49.600 think some of Sarah and my daughter's favorite times in 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:51.840 our relationship together was times that she was in the 0:13:51.840 --> 0:13:55.360 Bahamas without me with Nicole. Yeah, and just really that 0:13:55.720 --> 0:13:57.360 spent some real time and saying with san with TONI 0:13:57.440 --> 0:14:00.520 told me would have these really almost rituals in the 0:14:00.520 --> 0:14:02.679 Bamas that he really loved and enjoyed it. And then 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:04.839 he would show up and have duty. So like he 0:14:05.120 --> 0:14:06.839 you know, when he showed up he was the ambassador's 0:14:06.840 --> 0:14:08.840 son and they would you know, he would show up 0:14:08.840 --> 0:14:12.880 on an aircraft carrier and to meet people. 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:15.320 Yeah. No, And it's funny with when when you were 0:14:15.360 --> 0:14:18.320 a kid and you're like because. 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:20.920 When you're the step which I hate the word, I 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:22.640 never you know, Billy and I we don't really use 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:25.920 step because it's you know, you get past whatever that is. 0:14:26.240 --> 0:14:27.280 But you also have to. 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:29.680 Maintain your sense of like who you are as the like. 0:14:29.920 --> 0:14:33.000 So in the room sometimes you know, you respect the parents, 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:35.400 the biological parents, and you might disagree or agree, but 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:37.000 you have to find that thread. 0:14:37.960 --> 0:14:39.920 It's a difficult road. It's a difficult road and not 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:43.320 underappreciated too. Yeah, so I definitely think that that is 0:14:43.360 --> 0:14:46.120 something where if you could find that place and people 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:48.880 comment on it a lot about Nicole and the relationship 0:14:48.880 --> 0:14:50.280 with the kids, Yeah, it's very special. 0:14:51.560 --> 0:14:53.080 Kind of sounds like this could be a good show 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:53.720 on Netflix. 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:58.280 So I'll meet you there kind of again started with 0:14:58.320 --> 0:15:02.560 this dual life we had back and forth. Interesting when 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:05.120 Nicole came back from the Bahamas, it was because my 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:08.560 mother had just passed, and it was this time where 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:11.640 she writes about it in the book What a Difficult 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:15.360 How she looks back with great regret her reaction because 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:19.560 she was so busy in the role that I was 0:15:19.600 --> 0:15:21.640 talking to her about the funeral and she was talking 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:24.840 back and forth about work, and then this realization that 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:26.760 she was not in the right place at that moment. 0:15:27.080 --> 0:15:29.440 But she came to that conclusion on her own, and 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:31.360 it was led to the chain of events and led 0:15:31.400 --> 0:15:33.640 to her coming home, which was, you know, there's a 0:15:33.680 --> 0:15:36.320 lot that she was needed for here, and then she 0:15:36.360 --> 0:15:38.680 came back and up to work work on Obama's reelection, 0:15:39.120 --> 0:15:41.000 but also more importantly, she came home to be with 0:15:41.000 --> 0:15:44.680 the family. It's so unlikely, not because she's black and 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:47.840 I'm white. It's because I grew up like very lower 0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:52.880 middle class and I find out later that I'm dating 0:15:52.880 --> 0:16:13.080 a princess at Beverly Hills. 0:16:15.200 --> 0:16:16.960 Thanks for joining us on Table for two. 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:21.120 We've been speaking with our guest, Ted Crandos about his wife, Nicole. 0:16:21.200 --> 0:16:25.960 Levant's parents, Clarence and Jacqueline. Clarence was known as the 0:16:26.000 --> 0:16:30.280 Black Godfather at Motown Records. Jacqueline, or Jackie as she 0:16:30.400 --> 0:16:33.760 was lovingly known, was a huge influence in both Nicole 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:37.480 and Ted's lives before her tragic murder in twenty twenty one. 0:16:38.480 --> 0:16:41.720 People don't experience, you know, knock on wood, hopefully what 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:44.680 you guys experienced within that short period of time. So 0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:49.560 how did the light come back in through into your family, 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:53.440 into you and Nicole through the darkest hour of that, 0:16:53.720 --> 0:16:55.880 you know, how does how do you dealing with grief? 0:16:55.920 --> 0:16:57.080 As Nicole is written about. 0:16:57.240 --> 0:17:01.400 Yeah, it's interesting because I feel like it was very 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:04.600 it also was organic as as as shocking as the 0:17:04.640 --> 0:17:07.719 whole incident was and the whole dealing with it, this 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:09.919 whole kind of organic period that kind of started with 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:11.600 the passing of my father and ended with the passing 0:17:11.600 --> 0:17:14.280 of Clarence a couple of years later, with this tragedy 0:17:14.280 --> 0:17:16.239 in the middle, you know what I mean. So it 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:18.920 wasn't it kind of eased, It almost eased you into 0:17:18.960 --> 0:17:22.679 it out of it. And and like my father passed 0:17:22.680 --> 0:17:26.320 exactly the way we all hope to, just took a shower, 0:17:26.400 --> 0:17:29.240 put on his pajamas, went to sleep and didn't wait God, 0:17:29.280 --> 0:17:33.119 bless God. He was about to turn eighty and was 0:17:33.200 --> 0:17:35.320 you know, he had lived a life and it was beautiful. 0:17:35.640 --> 0:17:37.920 And then you know, Jackie, with that, you know, kind 0:17:37.920 --> 0:17:40.480 of horrific and you couldn't have imagine Clarence was kind 0:17:40.480 --> 0:17:42.720 of in that, you know, somewhere in between. Yeah, we 0:17:42.720 --> 0:17:44.320 didn't really see it coming, but he was sick and 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:46.879 said he was you know, uh, And and then what 0:17:46.920 --> 0:17:50.600 we did have is that last week together where he 0:17:50.680 --> 0:17:53.000 you know, he was unconscious for you know, for that 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:54.160 period of time because. 0:17:53.960 --> 0:17:55.200 He moved in with you and Nicole. 0:17:55.680 --> 0:17:58.280 Yeah, you have this whole immediately he came, he came 0:17:58.320 --> 0:18:00.479 from the hospital to live with Nicole and I and 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:02.560 we and it was like a gift, I say in 0:18:02.600 --> 0:18:05.320 the in the forward, it was like a cosmic payback almost, 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:07.000 this incredible experience of. 0:18:07.000 --> 0:18:09.119 Having them with us for a couple of years. Uh, 0:18:09.200 --> 0:18:11.640 and to tell great stories. And I took that as 0:18:11.640 --> 0:18:13.920 like almost like a like a built in mentorship at home. 0:18:14.560 --> 0:18:16.600 Have to imagine making deals for a living and having 0:18:16.680 --> 0:18:19.880 clear at the house. Yeah, and he and he veryly 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:23.160 never he always had great advice, and it was never 0:18:23.200 --> 0:18:25.520 about the deal itself. It was just about people and 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:28.040 how people react to different things. Did you try this, 0:18:28.119 --> 0:18:30.080 did you think about this? You should ask to mention 0:18:30.200 --> 0:18:32.879 this or that kind of thing. Yes, Yeah, it was 0:18:32.880 --> 0:18:34.159 all the things that happened on the edge of a 0:18:34.200 --> 0:18:36.439 deal that make the deal open, you know, closer enough. 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:39.520 So really helpful in that way. But we'd have these 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:41.800 meals together. We just talked about music and we talked 0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:43.600 about life. And he would tell you know, he hit 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:47.040 a very big repertoire of stories, they kind of got 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:50.480 smaller and smaller every night. And the story. I'm always 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:53.000 endlessly fascinated by what stories stayed with you till the 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:56.680 very very yeah, from childhood or from adult even from 0:18:56.680 --> 0:18:59.680 your later adult lives. And so in that way, it 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:01.760 was a very interesting thing to watch, and we would 0:19:01.760 --> 0:19:03.719 just spend we got to spend a lot of time together, 0:19:03.760 --> 0:19:07.560 which in contrast, when my father passed fairly unexpectedly and 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:10.560 he had lost my father had a stroke several years 0:19:10.600 --> 0:19:14.240 before and lost his speech. So for seven or eight 0:19:14.280 --> 0:19:16.240